FIDE Candidates 2026: Leader Vaishali secures big win in Round 11; Divya, Pragg draw

          R Vaishali. Michal Walusza / FIDE
          • Anish Anand
          Apr 11, 2026, 02:46 PM ET

          R Vaishali took a big step towards winning the Women's Candidates after beating Aleksandra Goryachkina with the black pieces in Round 11.

          She capitalised on a blunder by Goryachkina, which resulted in the rook getting trapped and the Russian eventually conceded.

          Vaishali, who was already leading the standings, secured one more point to make it seven in 11 games. Zhu Jiner and Anna Muzychuk are joint second but a full point behind the Indian with three more rounds to go.

          Divya Deshmukh secured a draw with the black against Zhu Jiner in her Round 11 match while Muzychuk shared points with Kateryna Lagano.

          FIDE Candidates 2026 Women's Round 11 results

          • Goryachkina lost to Vaishali

          • Lagno drew with Muzychuk

          • Zhu Jiner drew with Divya

          • Tan Zhongyi drew with Assaubayeva

          FIDE Candidates 2026 Women's Standings after Round 10

          1. R Vaishali - 7

          2. Zhu Jiner - 6

          3. Anna Muzychuk - 6

          4. Bibisara Assaubayeva - 5.5

          5. Kateryna Lagno - 5.5

          6. Aleksandra Goryachkina - 5

          7. Divya Deshmukh - 5

          8. Tan Zhongyi - 4

          Meanwhile, in the open section, India's R Praggnanandhaa drew his match against Matthias Bluebaum with the white pieces, which took his points tally to 4.5.

          Leader Javokhir Sindarov, playing with black, was up against Fabiano Caruano and their long match ended in a draw game which took his points to 8.5 in 11 matches. He's getting closer and closer to winning the Candidates as the next best Anish Giri is on 6.5 points after his draw against Andrey Esipenko.

          With whites, Hikaru Nakamura also played out a draw against Wei Yi.

          FIDE Candidates 2026 Open Round 10 results

          • Caruana drew with Sindarov

          • Giri drew with Esipinko

          • Nakamura drew with Wei Yi

          • Praggnanandhaa drew with Bluebaum

          FIDE Candidates 2026 Open Standings after Round 10

          1. Javokhir Sindarov - 8.5

          2. Anish Giri - 6.5

          3. Fabiano Caruana - 5.5

          4. Hikaru Nakamura - 5

          5. Wei Yi - 5

          6. Matthias Blübaum - 5

          7. R Praggnanandhaa - 4.5

          8. Andrey Esipenko - 4